Belatacept

Belatacept is a fusion protein that causes T-cell anergy and apoptosis (Kasper 2015). Calcineurin inhibitors are immunosuppressive drugs with a considerable side effect profile, such as gingival hyperplasia, nephrotoxic effects, acne, cardiac arrhythmia, hirsutism (Land 2001). To circumvent these, the calcineurin-inhibitor-free Belatacept was developed (Herold 2020).

Belatacept is indicated to prevent graft rejection after kidney transplantation. It is usually given in combination with other immunosuppressive drugs (Freissmuth 2012).

Belatacept is applied intravenously once a month (Kasper 2015). If liver or kidney function is impaired, the dosage does NOT need to be adapted (Kuhlmann 2015).

Belatacept is contraindicated in EBV-negative patients, as these patients have a significantly higher risk of developing post-transplant lymphoma (Kuhlmann 2015)

The trade name is Nujolix®.

The costs for Belatacept are about 3 times higher than the current standard therapy with Ciclosporin (Schwabe 2012).

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2. Herold G et al (2020) Internal medicine. Herold Publisher 649
3. Kasper D L et al (2015) Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine. Mc Graw Hill Education 1828 - 1829
4. Kasper D L et al (2015) Harrison's Internal Medicine. Georg Thieme Publishing House 2249 - 2251
5. Keller C K et al (2010) Practice of nephrology. Springer publishing house
6. Kuhlmann U et al (2015) Nephrology: Pathophysiology - Clinic - Kidney replacement procedure. Thieme Publishing House 786 - 787
7. Land W et al (2001) Ciclosporin in transplant medicine. Thieme Publishing House 4
8. Schwabe U et al. (2012) Arzneiverordnungs- Report 2012: Current data, costs, trends and comments. Springer publishing house 47